By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

PORTO-NOVO, Benin – Last Thursday, human rights groups and press organizations demanded the Benin government to release a TV director who was imprisoned for airing a program that criticized President Boni Yayi.

On September 18, 2012, TV station Canal 3 broadcasted a press conference where former Presidential Adviser and Spokesperson Lionel Agbo accused the President of enabling his cabinet members’ corrupt practices.

The following day, President Yayi filed a complaint against the director of Canal 3, Berthe Cakpossa, before the High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), Benin’s media regulatory body. In the complaint, President Yayi denied all of the accusations Agbo made against him, claiming that these were mere fabrications. According to him, by airing the press conference, Canal 3 “disturbed public order” and “undermined national cohesion”. Two months later, the HAAC suspended two of the TV station’s programs:  “Actu matin” and “Arbre à Palabre” for two weeks and three months, respectively.

On January 16, a Cotonou court found Cakpossa guilty of “offending the head of state”, sentencing the director to three months in prison with hard labor. Cakpossa was also ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 francs CFA (US$1,000), and symbolic damages of 1 franc CFA. In its decision, the Cotonou court cited the country’s 1997 press law which states that journalists are considered the author of third-party statements they report.

Agbo was likewise arrested for the same charges.

According to Cakpossa’s lawyer, Claret Dedie, they recently appealed the court’s decision which they hope will suspend the execution of the sentence. In an interview with the local news, Dedie said that she was surprised to learn about her client’s arrest since prison terms of less than six months do not require immediate incarceration in Benin. She also found it peculiar that out of all the cases filed against Cakpossa in connection with the controversial broadcast, Cakpossa had been convicted only in the case in which the complainant was the President.

“President Yayi retaliated against a journalist who conveyed a message he did not like and then pressured the courts to impose his will. He is sending a message that his government is off-limits to critical scrutiny,” noted Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on the appeals court to overturn this verdict, which is a stain on Benin’s image as a free, democratic nation.”

Other human rights and media organizations such as the Media Foundation for West Africa (MWFA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and the Union of Media Professionals of Benin (UPMB) have joined the CPJ in urging the appeals court to set Cakpossa free.

 

For further information, please see:

Horn Portal – Benin TV chief jailed for program slamming presidential palace – 26 January 2013

Spy Ghana – Berthe Cakpossa sentence was illegally motivated by the Benin government – William Gomes – 26 January 2013

IFEX – TV station director sentenced to hard labour in Benin – 25 January 2013

Committee to Protect Journalists – Benin TV director convicted for offending president – 24 January 2013

 

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—The French and Malian forces, working together, pushed forward to the desert town of Timbuktu today, as the two-week-long French mission began gathering momentum against the Islamist extremists, who have been in control of the region for more than nine months.

This move toward Timbuktu comes just a day after the French army announced that they had succeeded in seizing the airport and a key bridge in Gao, which is one of the other northern provincial capitals currently under the control of the Islamist insurgents. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali’s Defense Ministry said, “Since yesterday the Malian army has been in Gao, controlling the airport.” “Police actions are under way,” he continued.

Gao is the largest city in northern Mali. It was seized more than nine months ago, by a mixture of al-Qaida linked Islamist fighters. This group of fighters turned the city into a replica of Afghanistan under the Taliban. The group also has close ties to Moktar Belmoktar, an Algerian national who has been operating in Mali for a long time, and claimed responsibility for the attack on a BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria.

Gao is one of the main strategic points and represented the biggest move yet in this battle to retake the northern half of the country. The French Defense Ministry spokesman, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, said that Malian, Nigerian and Chadian troops were now deploying in Gao after the French special forces took the airport yesterday. “The taking of control of Gao, which has between 50,000 and 60,000 inhabitants, by Malian, Chadian and Nigerian soldiers, is under way,” he noted.

However, in Paris, a defense ministry official clarified that the city of Gao has not yet been completely liberated. While a lot of progress has been made, the process of freeing the city still continues.

Yesterday, Saturday, January 26, 2013, the United States said that it would provide aerial refueling for France’s warplanes. This decision increases American involvement, which until yesterday had consisted only of transporting French troops and equipment, while also providing some intelligence, including but not limited to satellite photographs.

Since France began its operation, the insurgents have retreated from three small towns in central Mali: Diabaly, Konna, and Douentza. The Islamists continue to control much of the north. This conflict will now dominate the African Union summit in Ethiopia on Monday.

 

For further information, please see:

The Guardian – Mali Conflict: French and Malian Troops Begin Restoring Control in Timbuktu – 27 January 2013

The New York Times – French Troops in Mali Push On to Timbuktu – 27 January 2013

The Wall Street Journal – In Mali, French Troops Step Up Role – 27 January 2013

The Washington Post – French Forces Press Ahead Toward Malian Town of Timbuktu – 27 January 2013

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The last Zimbabwean elections, held in 2008, were marred by violence and allegations of rigged voting.  With presidential elections on the horizon, Zimbabwe has had an interesting week between diamonds and helicopters.  As South Africa prepared to ship a surplus of military helicopters to Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe’s party called for the investigation of multiple provincial leaders’ diamond fraud.

The announcement that the South African military had agreed to donate its surplus of aging French-designed Alouette helicopters to Zimbabwe for “imminent delivery” was met with protests from regional civic campaign groups.

AfriForum, a human rights group, protested South Africa’s military donations.  And today a court in South Africa has temporarily halted a delivery of helicopters to the Zimbabwean military.  High Court Judge N. B. Tuchten prohibited South Africa’s government from exporting any Alouette helicopters or spares to Zimbabwe until a full hearing could be held on February 19.

Willie Spies, AfriForum’s legal spokesperson, was confident that the order would be upheld next month. “We know that Zimbabwe has got a record of human rights abuses,” Mr. Spies said.  Moreover he stated, “We know what happened during 2008 with the second round presidential elections.  We know the Zimbabwe Defense Forces are not a neutral defense force committed to defending the Zimbabwean state.”

Furthermore, Mr. Spies said, “[The military is] an aggressive force that’s been used against the people of Zimbabwe to suppress the opposition.”

Earlier on Friday, South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper reported that it had seen confidential minutes of a meeting held two months ago between the defense chiefs of South Africa and Zimbabwe detailing the “disposal of Alouette helicopters and spares”.  South Africa’s defense department told the paper the donation was part of an agreement that dated back to 1997.

Coinciding with the controversy surrounding South Africa’s military donation are Mugabe’s efforts to “clean up” his party image.  President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party launched an investigation into alleged diamond fraud involving five of its officials, who have exposed the party’s control of the Chiadzwa diamond fields.  The case involves more than $750,000 that the five party members allegedly “swindled” from mining companies for ZANU PF activities.  The money was then reportedly used in part to finance the officials’ personal lives.

It is already widely speculated that ZANU PF has been using the diamonds fields to generate cash for the party.  ZANU-PF has endorsed Mugabe, 88, as its candidate for the presidential vote.  The coming election is expected to be hotly contested as it is widely believed that Mugabe’s policies ruined Zimbabwe’s economy.

For more information, please see:

All Africa – Zimbabwe: Zanu-PF Investigating Party Diamond Fraud – 18 January 2013

BBC – South Africa Court Halts Zimbabwe Helicopter Donation – 25 January 2013

Reuters – Zimbabwe Order Diamond Fraud Probe as Elections Looms – 25 January 2013

The Washington Post – Campaigners Try to Stop Zimbabwe Helicopter Gunship Delivery from Neighboring South Africa – 25 January 2013

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic – On Monday, a top United Nations (UN) official denounced the re-recruitment of child soldiers by rebel groups and pro-government militias in the Central African Republic (CAR).

UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui expressed her dismay and concern after learning that armed groups such as ‘Séléka’, the Convention des patriotes pour la justice et la paix (CPJP) and the Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement (UFDR), have been enlisting children among their ranks once again. According to reports, such enlistments are currently on the rise in spite of previous promises made by the said groups to end this practice.

Last November, both the UFDR and CPJP entered into agreements with the UN that they will exclude minors from membership and ultimately, keep children out of the conflict. The UFDR promised to release children in its ranks to the UN, whereas the CPJP signed an action plan to end the recruitment and use of children in line with Security Council resolution 1612.

The following month, however, the UN received reports that the CPJP refused to release two girls in an incident in Aigbando. Also, former child soldiers who were already in the care of UN’s children’s agency were getting numerous death threats from the same rebel groups.

“The reports of child recruitment are a flagrant violation of commitments made by the CPJP and UFDR and must stop now,” Ms. Zerrougui said. “The same actors have been violating child rights with impunity for too long. We will continue to monitor the situation and if no progress is made, we will engage the Security Council on this matter,” she added

Ms. Zerrougui also questioned the Government’s commitment to protect children from the ongoing conflict. She received additional reports claiming that the Government has “called on youth in Bangui to mobilize and arm themselves to counter the armed groups alongside militias.”

“These developments are unacceptable,” Ms. Zerrougui insisted. “Child recruitment is a grave violation. Children separated from armed forces and groups are victims, not perpetrators, and have to be treated as such. Going forward, I urge the Government to take its responsibility to protect children seriously, and to refrain from inciting violence.”

Based on a recent report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), almost 300,000 children have been involved with various armed groups in the country even before the major outbreak of rebellion last month. Most of them were street children and orphans which made them easy targets for kidnap and recruitment. Armed militias would abuse and force these children – both boys and girls – to fight and carry supplies.

 

For further information, please see:

United Press International – Children recruited for CAR fight – 22 January 2013

Spy Ghana – UN Astonished About Central African Republic child soldiers report – 22 January 2013

All Africa – Central African Republic: UN Official Disappointed By New Reports of Child Soldiers in Central African Republic – 21 January 2013

Al Jazeera – CAR child soldiers face death threats – 19 January 2013

All Africa – Central African Republic: Seleka Rebels and Army Using Child Soldiers – 11 January 2013